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Anti-Titan group to switch tactics, target elected officials

Jeannie Lennon a volunteer with Citizens Against Titan directs concerned resident Trey Elmore to a petition to sign against Titan cement plant during their 5 year anniversary rally Sunday at Tidal Creek Food Coop.

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About 150 attended a rally on Sunday at the Tidal Creek Cooperative Food Market to celebrate the fifth year of action against the Titan Cement plant.

"We love where we live, we love our friends and our neighbors, we love these children and we love the possibility of the future being fabulous for them and fabulous for this area. This is our destiny, it's bigger than a cement plant. We've gotta set precedent, we've gotta stand strong," said Julie Hurley, one of Stop Titan's leaders.

Standing strong, though, could mean something slightly different in the coming months than it has for the past five years, with the group trying to focus on what it can prove about the impact cement plants have on communities rather than the economic impact this particular facility could have on the Cape Fear region.

Bruce Holsten, a member of Stop Titan, has written a resolution condemning the plant based on its potential environmental impacts and plans to ask local governments to adopt it.

"The idea here is to bring a structure for them to respond to where they are legally capable of having an opinion," he said. "They would have to say ‘No, I am in favor of this. I am in favor of having this kind of thing because the benefits of having that company come with whatever number of jobs.'?"

Some points on the resolution will include that a cement plant could add 12 million pounds of emissions to New Hanover County's air, that it would use millions of gallons of water daily and that 8,500 children attend school within five miles of the proposed plant's smokestacks, among others.

These facts will form the bedrock of the argument that Holsten and the other members of Stop Titan hope to use to convince elected officials to adopt their stance that building the plant would be toxic for the region.

"We have that information and no one – not Titan or anyone else – can argue those points and we're not gonna get into a game of what if. 160 jobs, are they high-paying jobs? Not interested in that," Holsten said. "What we do want people to talk about in this community is what we know and that's what we're gonna be talking about from now on."

In the five years that Stop Titan has been active, 15,000 citizens, 200 local doctors and 100 businesses and state agencies have signed a letter stating their opposition to the plant.

New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield used the metaphor of the Spartans in the film "300" to encourage the group to stick together and continue to push election officials to take action against the Titan plant.

Then, Barfield turned to a different movie reference to inspire the crowd with a glance into the future.

"There was this movie that came out called ‘Remember the Titans,'?" Barfield said. "See, about 40, 50 years from now, some of the folks that are young like the 8-, 9-year-olds are gonna be sitting with their grandkids, they're gonna say, ‘Remember Titan?' ‘No, Grandpa tell me about that.' Well, you get the point."

<p>After five years of protesting the construction of a cement plant in Castle Hayne, members of the Stop Titan Action Network are planning to shift gears and force elected officials to take action.</p><p>About 150 attended a rally on Sunday at the Tidal Creek Cooperative Food Market to celebrate the fifth year of action against the Titan Cement plant.</p><p>"We love where we live, we love our friends and our neighbors, we love these children and we love the possibility of the future being fabulous for them and fabulous for this area. This is our destiny, it's bigger than a cement plant. We've gotta set precedent, we've gotta stand strong," said Julie Hurley, one of Stop Titan's leaders.</p><p>Standing strong, though, could mean something slightly different in the coming months than it has for the past five years, with the group trying to focus on what it can prove about the impact cement plants have on communities rather than the economic impact this particular facility could have on the Cape Fear region.</p><p>Bruce Holsten, a member of Stop Titan, has written a resolution condemning the plant based on its potential environmental impacts and plans to ask local governments to adopt it.</p><p>"The idea here is to bring a structure for them to respond to where they are legally capable of having an opinion," he said. "They would have to say 'No, I am in favor of this. I am in favor of having this kind of thing because the benefits of having that company come with whatever number of jobs.'?"</p><p>Some points on the resolution will include that a cement plant could add 12 million pounds of emissions to New Hanover County's air, that it would use millions of gallons of water daily and that 8,500 children attend school within five miles of the proposed plant's smokestacks, among others.</p><p>These facts will form the bedrock of the argument that Holsten and the other members of Stop Titan hope to use to convince elected officials to adopt their stance that building the plant would be toxic for the region.</p><p>"We have that information and no one – not Titan or anyone else – can argue those points and we're not gonna get into a game of what if. 160 jobs, are they high-paying jobs? Not interested in that," Holsten said. "What we do want people to talk about in this community is what we know and that's what we're gonna be talking about from now on."</p><p>In the five years that Stop Titan has been active, 15,000 citizens, 200 local doctors and 100 businesses and state agencies have signed a letter stating their opposition to the plant.</p><p>New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield used the metaphor of the Spartans in the film "300" to encourage the group to stick together and continue to push election officials to take action against the Titan plant.</p><p>Then, Barfield turned to a different movie reference to inspire the crowd with a glance into the future.</p><p>"There was this movie that came out called 'Remember the Titans,'?" Barfield said. "See, about 40, 50 years from now, some of the folks that are young like the 8-, 9-year-olds are gonna be sitting with their grandkids, they're gonna say, 'Remember Titan?' 'No, Grandpa tell me about that.' Well, you get the point."</p><p><i></p><p>Adam Wagner: 343-2096</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @adamwagner1990</i></p>